Draft Resister Changes Plea to Guilty on Sign Up Charge

Saying he still believes the military draft is wrong, a 24-year-old former Yale University philosophy student from Whittier entered a guilty plea Thursday before U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. in Los Angeles for his failure to register for military service.

David Alan Wayte said he changed his plea from innocent because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in March that upheld the government’s former policy of prosecuting only those young men who publicized their refusal to register for service. Wayte’s attorneys had contended that such prosecution was in violation of their client’s First Amendment rights.

“The selective prosecution (issue) has been raised before the Supreme Court . . . and I wanted to be straightforward with the judge, who knew about the fact that I was not registered,” said Wayte, in explaining his change of plea to reporters.

“I believe that the military draft is still wrong . . . and that my First Amendment rights were violated. I’ll accept whatever the judge says (in sentencing).”

Wayte, who faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, is one of only 18 young men indicted for failing to register since draft registration was reinstituted in 1980 under a law signed by then-President Jimmy Carter.

When Wayte was indicted in 1982, Selective Service officials reported that of the more than 9 million men required to register, 674,000--or about 7.5%--had not done so. Since that time, fewer than 2% of the 13.9 million required to register have failed to do so.

Sentencing for Wayte, who admitted he is “frightened” by the prospect of going to jail, is set for July 29.

Wayte, free on $5,000 bond, has said that he hopes the judge will allow him to pursue “some kind of work with handicapped people.”

In April, Benjamin Sasway, 24, was sentenced by a San Diego judge to 2 1/2 years in prison for failing to register with Selective Service. As of January, 1985, the eight people convicted of draft evasion had received sentences ranging from probation to community service to 2 1/2 years in prison.